Integrated circuit (IC) technologies are constantly being improved. Such improvements frequently involve scaling down device geometries to achieve lower fabrication costs, higher device integration density, higher speeds, and better performance.
One of the IC devices is an image-sensor device. An image-sensor device includes a pixel grid for detecting light and recording the intensity (brightness) of the detected light. The pixel grid responds to the light by accumulating charges. The charges can be used (for example, by other circuitry) to provide color in some suitable applications, such as a digital camera.
Common types of pixel grids include a charge-coupled device (CCD) image sensor or complimentary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor device. One type of image sensor devices is a backside illuminated (BSI) image sensor device. BSI image sensor devices are used for sensing a volume of light projected towards the back surface of a substrate. BSI image sensor devices provide a high fill factor and reduced destructive interference, as compared to front-side illuminated (FSI) image sensor devices. In general, BSI technology provides higher sensitivity, lower cross-talk, and comparable quantum efficiency as compared to FSI image sensor devices.
However, although existing BSI image sensor devices and methods of fabricating these BSI image sensor devices have been generally adequate for their intended purposes, as device scaling-down continues, they have not been entirely satisfactory in all respects.